Ben Duckett has cleared the air on his controversial comments crediting Bazball for Yashavi Jaiswal’s batting during England’s Test tour of India earlier this year.

Duckett praised Jaiswal for his 236-ball 214 not out at Rajkot during England's tour of India earlier this year but suggested his side should get some credit for India's aggressive brand of cricket. The comments didn’t sit well with many and Duckett received strong backlash from some notable names, including former Australia captain Michael Clarke. Rohit Sharma too took a dig at him.

The England opener recently opened up on his controversial comments, saying that they were taken out of context, and that those words were meant as a complement for Jaiswal, which was seemingly forgotten.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Duckett also recalled how "incredible" he thought Jaiswal was throughout the series. "It was actually me paying him a nice compliment. I’m pretty sure I said he was a world-class player, but no one spoke about that. Would I have said what I did during the fifth Test? No, because he played like that throughout the whole series, and he was incredible."

During his enterprising knock at Rajkot, Jaiswal hit 12 sixes, the joint-most-ever in an innings Test cricket, including a hat-trick of sixes off James Anderson. That was also his second double-hundred in the series, having scored a 290-ball 209 in Ranchi.

Overall, Jaiswal amassed 712 runs in that series at an average of 89 and a strike rate of 79.91 and was one of the reasons behind keeping England’s “Bazball” phenomenon at bay, sealing a 4-1 series victory for the hosts.

England will next play in a three-match Test series against Sri Lanka at home, starting August 21. Duckett is expected to play a leading role in that.

Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.

Related tags:

Trending Stories